Page 106 of Back to Willow

“Yes,” I admit, excited. It’s impossible to not get attached to Dylan. “She has a son, a little kid, his na—”

“Oh, no. No, no.” She shrieks with a high-pitched voice, and I can hear shuffling around.

Probably scurrying to get my father. Ah, fucking hell….

“John!” she yells. “Your son has gone crazy, for real this time! He’s been the victim of a scammer. Some skank has been brainwashing him!”

Fuck me. For once, I thought they’d be happy for me. For once, I thought my parents would genuinely be excited for me, for my happiness. Of course, they wouldn’t. The Davises and their life of appearances.

Way to kill my cloud-nine mood. Fate really is a cold-hearted bitch. One has to be truly evil to pull me headfirst down to earth, after all of the rollercoasters these past few weeks have been.

For the first time in years, when I can almost say I feel close to being happy, my parents had to fucking ruin it.

“Mum, she doesn’t want any money, and she didn’t even want me to meet him.” That’s actually true, as well. “Give her a chance before you start throwing all kinds of insults.”

“Liam, son,” my father’s calm and cold voice sounds from the speaker. “I will not allow you to date this...gold digger.”

“Alright, that’s it,” I grumble before hanging up on them and shutting off my phone.

I’m not taking this bullshit any longer. I’m a grown-ass man, and their approval can fuck off for all I care.

After the shift from hell, my body is begging me to go to sleep for a day and a half, but I had promised Saul and the guys to catch up over some drinks. Especially because we haven’t seen each other since that night out in early September.

Residency really takes social life away from you. And while I’m tired as fuck on a Friday night, I’m still excited to meet my friends tonight.

“Hey, man. You finally made it!” Saul greets me with open arms and a grin on his face, and I can’t help but grin back while hugging him.

“I told you I’d come, didn’t I?” We all laugh.

I greet both Paul and Victor next before sitting down next to them. The wooden surface, between the three of us, already has three half-drank glasses of beer; they’ve probably been waiting for me for a while.

“How have you been? We’ve barely been able to see each other,” Paul chimes in.

“Between residency and finishing up my master’s…” I trail off. “It’s been hell.”

There’s this gnawing urgency inside me to tell them about Willow and Dylan, but I kind of don’t want to, too. Nor do I feel like I should. To make them understand everything, I’d have to tell parts of the story that are not mine to tell—even if I want to shout to the world that we’ve reconnected.

To them, she’s just the girl who got away, who disappeared from my life, and I’m not sure if that should change or not.

I love these guys to death. They put up with my wild days in college and saved my ass from a ton of problems and angry boyfriends, but this is different. Having Willow back and Dylan as an extension of her feels too personal to be sharing tonight. Is that because there’s a part of me who wants to keep them all to myself? Maybe.

“Nah…” Saul snarks. “I don’t believe that. There’s this thoughtful look on your face. The last time I saw it was when we met back in freshman year.”

“That’s right!” Victor agrees. “Some chick finally got your attention?”

These assholes see right through me. Is there any point in denying it?No.But I can keep the details to myself.

“You could say that.” A smirk finds its way onto my lips.

“Ohh,” they all exclaim in unison.

Right at that moment, the bartender passes by, and I ask him for a beer. The guys down the rest of theirs, too, before asking for seconds.

“Right, now spill!” Saul exclaims. “Is this the goddess you met in the club a couple of months ago?”

My hand, which has been drawing circles on the table so far, freezes at the mention of Johanna. She is gorgeous and hot, I can’t deny it. And I can’t help but be sad that I had to put an end to it. But thinking back to every moment we spent together, it can’t come close to what Willow and I share.

Could never.

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